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Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute adopted a sweeping reform of its graduate tuition and student support policies. Programmatic changes to foster a greater emphasis on the PhD programs relative to Master’s degrees, greater external research support for graduate students, and a shorter time to degree for PhD studies were adopted as well. These changes are part of the Rensselaer Plan, a bold initiative to make Rensselaer a top-tier technological research university. The policy requires complete support, including full tuition and at least a minimum stipend, for all students that receive financial support. PhD students are limited to two years of teaching experience during their graduate study, the rest of their work must be supported by external sources on grants, contracts, or fellowships. All students are required to do their candidacy exams during their second year. Time limits of 2.5 and 7 years have been established for Master’s and PhD degrees respectively. All PhD students are reviewed yearly, either by their advisor or their doctoral committee. Tuition must be paid for students during all years of their graduate study, eliminating a policy which fostered faculty ‘holding on to’ senior PhD students. In the year since the inception of this policy the ratio of students on internal support to those on external support has dropped from 2.4 to 1.6. The number of PhD students graduating in the last calendar year rose from 105 to 168. The number of externally supported research assistants has grown by over 15%. Accompanying these changes the Rensselaer Plan has resulted in the hiring of 127 new tenure-track faculty on a base of 400 and a 50% increase in external research funding to an average of $150,000/yr. per faculty member across all 5 schools (> $220,000 for those faculty in STEM disciplines). The number of new PhD students entering the program rose from 119 last year to 184 this year.